Sven- Frankenstein (1931)

 

"The Man who Made a Monster!" Sven showed this classic last night, and dang if it doesn't hold up after 90 years.  There really isn't much more to say about the movie critically, so I will talk about the name of the movie.  These days, when people say "Frankenstein" they generally mean the monster, or creature, or creation, rather than the man who made the poor thing.  This is a rather natural progression of things, since the Monster has been in far more movies than his creator ever was.  The name "Frankenstein" was very marketable, hence the reason it was used so much.  

I was trying to think of the first time the Monster was called Frankenstein or Frankie or anything like that.  Lou (as Wilbur) called the Monster "Junior" in the movie Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein (1948),  When reading the legends of the various monsters did Bud (as Chick) use the name Frankenstein as the monster?  I know by the 60s he was regarded as Frankenstein.  

This makes sense, though, as the Monster was created by Victor von Frankenstein, so that makes the Monster his progeny, in a sense.  So the name works for both of them now.

Next week- Son of Frankenstein!